Built-ins & Bookcases · Tudor & Tudor Revival
Library Bookcases, Clare College, Cambridge (measured drawing, 1903)
A measured drawing from Tanner's English Interior Woodwork of early 17th-century library bookcases at Clare College, Cambridge, with carved cresting and panelled ends.
Design characteristics
College libraries in Oxford and Cambridge preserve some of the earliest English built-in bookcases. The Clare College cases, from about the 1620s according to Tanner, have panelled ends, shelves between them and decorative cresting on top. They are a direct ancestor of the built-in library. For a modern study, the panelled-end case with a carved top is a handsome way to give built-in shelving a Jacobean character.
Classification
- Category
- Built-ins & Bookcases
- Material
- Oak
- Motifs
- Carved cresting, Library bookcase
- Published
- 1903
- Maker or designer
- Henry Tanner
- Evidence
- Period catalog illustration
Architectural context
Dark oak paneling, linenfold, strapwork and heavy plank doors. England · original c. 1485–1603; revival c. 1890–1940.
